He was about to call his team at the station when her call came through. Thank God.
“Sadie?”
“Jamie, you can’t just take me and Avery at gunpoint in a blue Honda and drive us to God knows where.”
His blood ran cold. Jamie had Sadie and Avery.
“I can do whatever the hell I want,” Jamie growled.
“Stop here at the library and let us out. No one has to know.”
“No!”
There was the sound of squealing tires, then a thud before Jamie spoke again. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Avery’s scream almost had his knees caving.
“Give me the phone or I shoot her in the fucking leg,” Jamie shouted.
“Jamie—”
There was a gasp, then the phone went dead.
CHAPTER 25
Avery’s heart pounded loud and hard in her chest. It felt like when she woke up from a bad dream, and Daddy came into her room to tell her everything would be okay. Only Daddy wasn’t here to help her this time. She didn’t know where he was, but it was her job to find him.
Her feet pounded the pavement as fast as she could go and her chest hurt. But she couldn’t slow down. Sadie was in trouble.
She’d swiped Sadie’s phone from the floor before jumping out of the car. If she didn’t call for help, her mom would hurt Sadie!
Panic and fear bubbled up her throat, but she swallowed them down. Sadie was brave, and she needed to be brave too.
When she rounded the building, she noticed a few people on the street. She wanted to run straight for them. Beg for help. But what if theydidhelp—and her mom shot them? Would that be her fault?
Her bottom lip started to tremble. She bit it to keep it still.
She needed to call Daddy. He saved people every day.
Her fingers trembled as she started to type in the password on Sadie’s phone. It was Avery’s birthday. The day Sadie told her the code, Avery had giggled and stolen the phone a dozentimes, just locking and unlocking it. Then they’d made pasta and cupcakes and fallen asleep on the couch.
She wished she could go back to that day. Back to feeling safe. To knowingSadiewas safe.
She tried to type in the digits to unlock the phone, but her fingers trembled so badly she kept pressing one instead of two. On the third try, tears spilled from her eyes. Tears of panic. Of guilt. Tears she couldn’t stop. Sadie was counting on her, and every second that passed was another second her mother had to hurt her.
“Avery?”
Her head lifted at the soft, familiar voice.
Elle knelt in front of her, concern in her eyes. “Hey, honey, are you okay?”
She shook her head, another tear rolling down her cheek.
Elle swiped it away. “Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll figure out how we can fix it.”
“Mom…” A hiccup cut off her words, and her chest felt too tight to speak.
“Hey. It’s okay. I’m here. Take a big breath and let the words out.”
